National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research; Notice of proposed priority [OSERS]

[Federal Register: August 8, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 153)]
[Notices]
[Page 51743-51745]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr08au02-117]

[[Page 51743]]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Part VI

Department of Education

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research; Notice

[[Page 51744]]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research

AGENCY: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services,
Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of proposed priority.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services proposes a priority for Alternative Financing
Program Technical Assistance (AFPTA) under title III of the Assistive
Technology Act of 1998 (AT Act), which is administered by the National
Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). The
Assistant Secretary may use this priority for competitions in fiscal
year (FY) 2002 and later years. We take this action to focus attention
on an identified national need. We intend this priority to provide
information and technical assistance to States and outlying areas
participating or interested in participating in the AFP.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before September 9, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments about this proposed priority to Donna
Nangle, Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3412,
Switzer Building, Washington, DC 20202-2645. If you prefer to send your
comments through the Internet, use the following address:
donna.nangle@ed.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donna Nangle. Telephone: (202) 205-
5880 or via the Internet: donna.nangle@ed.gov. If you use a
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call the TDD
number at (202) 205-4475.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the contact person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Invitation To Comment

We invite you to submit comments regarding this proposed priority.
We invite you to assist us in complying with the specific
requirements of Executive Order 12866 and its overall requirement of
reducing regulatory burden that might result from this proposed
priority. Please let us know of any further opportunities we should
take to reduce potential costs or increase potential benefits while
preserving the effective and efficient administration of the program.
During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public
comments about this priority in room 3412, Switzer Building, 330 C
Street, SW., Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.,
Eastern time, Monday through Friday of each week except Federal
holidays.

Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing the
Rulemaking Record

On request, we will supply an appropriate aid, such as a reader or
print magnifier, to an individual with a disability who needs
assistance to review the comments or other documents in the public
rulemaking record for this proposed priority. If you want to schedule
an appointment for this type of aid, please contact the person listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

Alternative Financing Program Technical Assistance Program (AFPTA)

Title III of the AT Act established an Alternative Financing
Program (AFP), which pays part of the cost for the States and outlying
areas to establish or maintain alternative financing projects to
increase access to assistive technology (AT) for individuals with
disabilities. The purpose of the AFPTA is to provide information and
technical assistance to States and outlying areas participating in the
AFP. Public or private agencies and organizations, including
institutions of higher education, are the entities eligible for an
AFPTA grant award.
This priority reflects issues discussed in the New Freedom
Initiative (NFI) and NIDRR's Long-Range Plan (the Plan). The NFI can be
accessed on the Internet at: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/freedominitiative/freedominiative.html. The Plan can be accessed on the
Internet at: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/NIDRR/Products.
We will announce the final priority in a notice in the Federal
Register. We will determine the final priority after considering
responses to this notice and other information available to the
Department. This notice does not preclude us from proposing or funding
additional priorities, subject to meeting applicable rulemaking
requirements.

Note: This notice does not solicit applications. In any year in
which we choose to use this proposed priority, we invite
applications through a notice in the Federal Register. When inviting
applications, we designate the priority as absolute, competitive
preference, or invitational. The effect of each priority follows:

Absolute priority: Under an absolute priority, we consider only
applications that meet the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(3)).
Competitive preference priority: Under a competitive preference
priority, we give competitive preference to an application by either
(1) awarding additional points, depending on how well or the extent to
which the application meets the priority (34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i)); or
(2) selecting an application that meets the priority over an
application of comparable merit that does not meet the priority (34 CFR
75.105(c)(2)(ii)).
Invitational priority: Under an invitational priority, we are
particularly interested in applications that meet the invitational
priority. However, we do not give an application that meets the
priority a competitive or absolute preference over other applications
(34 CFR 75.105(c)(1)).

Priority

Background

We are particularly interested in applications that propose ways to
collect, analyze, compile and report data provided by the AFP projects.
You may obtain additional information about the background of this
priority by contacting the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT.

Statutory Priority

As required by section 306(a) of the AT Act, the AFPTA project
must:
(a) Provide assistance to States preparing applications for the
AFP;
(b) Assist States to develop and implement the AFP; and
(c) Provide any other information and TA the Assistant Secretary
determines to be appropriate to assist States to achieve the objectives
of AFP.

Proposed Priority

In addition to the statutory priority, NIDRR is particularly
interested in having the AFPTA collect, analyze, compile, and report
data provided by the AFP projects. AFP projects currently report data
using an instrument that was developed and implemented to assist the
State grantees with their data collection obligations. NIDRR will
provide this instrument to the grantee upon receipt of award. The AFPTA
must:
(1) Collect data from the AFP projects and assist the projects in
this effort;
(2) Propose strategies for reviewing the AFP data collection
instrument to determine what modifications should be made to improve
its usability, reliability and validity and suggest strategies to
facilitate and expedite the collection of

[[Page 51745]]

uniform annual data from the AFP projects;
(3) Provide technical assistance to the State grantees on the data
collection instrument that will support and improve the data collection
efforts of the States;
(4) Provide technical assistance and training to State grantees on
data collection strategies that will improve the quality of the data
collected; and
(5) Through the technical assistance activities conducted under
this priority, the project shall prepare a report on the activities
funded under this Title. The report shall include the following: (a)
the type of alternative financing mechanisms used by each State and the
community-based organization with which each State entered into a
contract, under the program; and (b) the amount of assistance given to
consumers through the program who shall be classified by age, type of
disability, type of assistive technology device or assistive technology
service financed through the program, geographic distribution within
the State, gender, and whether the consumers are part of an
underrepresented population or rural population and, includes an
executive summary, description of data collection procedures utilized
and an analysis of the aggregated States' data including a discussion
of trends.

Electronic Access to This Document

You may review this document, as well as all other Department of
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister.
To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available
free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S.
Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in
the Washington, DC, area at (202) 512-1530.

Note: The official version of this document is the document
published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the
official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal
Regulations is available on GPO access at: http://
www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.224C, Alternative
Financing Program.)

Program Authority: 29 U.S.C. 3056.

Dated: August 5, 2002.
Robert H. Pasternack,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and, Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 02-20065 Filed 8-7-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P